The Romance of Chastisement

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Spanking Romance Reviews Hot Topics

Today I’m part of a Spanking Romance Reviews blog hop. This one is all about writing and how the styles of various writers in the blog hop have changed over the years. For other viewpoints just follow the linky list at the bottom of this post.

To participate, we authors were asked six questions. Here are my answers.

Do you do anything differently now than when you first began writing?

Yeah. Absolutely. There has been an evolution in my writing. When I first started, what I wanted to put on paper were fantasies of mine, ideas that were burning holes in my brain to express. The style I adopted mimicked some of the classic writers of spanking fiction like Paul Little and Will Henry. Things have changed over the years. I’m now more interested in being a storyteller. The story is the thing, not just the description of lurid fantasy situations. To be sure I always include plenty of action, described as vividly as I can make it. But plot, characterization and the flow of a story matter a lot more to me now.

Have you crossed any lines you thought you wouldn’t cross?

Not really. I draw the line at all the usual nons, but those are self limiting because Amazon won’t allow certain subject matter to be published, and the publishing companies are self-policing too. One thing that I had not done much with, however, was anal. It never floated my boat, so I never included any anal sex scenes or figging. But now, as I am advised by others, many readers think it’s hot, so I am now including anal scenes in my romance novels.

Have spankings become harsher or softer?

Neither. For me it all depends on the situation. If it’s supposed to be an erotic scene, it won’t be unduly harsh. If it’s loving correction, the severity fits the crime. If it’s the bad guys dishing it out, yes, the scene is likely to take the heroine past her limits. What dictates the severity of the spanking is the same thing that dictates everything else—the story, the characters, the situation.

Have you expanded your repertoire of punishments?

I have. For example in historical contexts, which is where I write a lot, punishments often include flogging of various types. It can be a public birching or it can be whipping with a modified cat o’ nine tails, or something I make up. But I will say that I stick pretty much to flagellation, and primarily flagellation of the buttocks. That is where the eroticism is. Cruel torture is not, to me, erotic. I know there are BDSM writers who dream up all kinds of things, but I never found those to be arousing.

How have your attitudes toward spanking changed?

That’s a very interesting question. Over the years they changed because I used to be a top exclusively. Then I began to imagine experiencing spanking as a bottom, so I experimented. But by the time I began writing, I was a died-in-the-wool switch. That is reflected in my writing. I have books directed to every orientation except M/M (which holds no interest for me). I will say that when I’m in the M/F genre, especially romance, the story will usually stay there, unless it’s a humorous piece. Switching occurs frequently in my F/M stories which are usually also heavily laced with F/F scenes.

Where have you taken your writing since you began?

I hope I have better technique now. I’ve learned a lot from others -- writers, editors and from just reading about the craft of writing. I hope to take some courses eventually and learn how to do this the right way instead of my usual seat-of-the-pants, learn-on-the-job technique.

I will say that I think I’m at the next level now. My spanking scenes were always pretty good, vivid and intense, but often my descriptions of people or places or incidents was lacking. So I feel like I’m a more complete writer now than when I started 15 years ago.

9 comments:

Interesting with the switching of roles. I never do that because for me, male dominated is what floats my boat and I find if I'm writing something that doesn't interest me, it's a little flat. For example (TMI coming up), breasts hold little interest for me - it's all about the butt. I have two books where I've forgotten to take nipple clamps off the heroine. One we caught at editing, the other one was simply forgotten...she's still out there in fact, my poor heroine, clamped! ;)

I'm left wondering how you've gone about adding in anal portions to scenes when that doesn't interest you really as a writer. Your talk on changing of roles was intriguing too. I know for me, in the last years I've worked to write more from the dominant(s)' POV, even though IRL, I have no desire to switch.

Natasha, Cara, Casey and Joelle--you all seem fascinated by the switching. I found out early on that I could write from an F/M perspective, so I have devoted a subset of my offerings to that dynamic. It further turns out that my F/M stories are some of the most popular on my blog with my article about F/M video as No. 1. It further turns out that F/M spanking is the most underserved subgenre in erotica. There is very little quality material out there. Oh sure, there's lots of booted dominatrix literature, but DD or F/M spanking? Not so much.

The idea you tried switching yourself and not just in your fiction is what fascinates most of us, I think. But, like Joelle, I'm intrigued by the fact you're adding something to your stories, not because it personally appeals to you, but because readers like it. I don't know if I could do that, and I'd love to know more how you manage to work yourself into the proper mindset.

Kathryn -- I've read some pretty intense anal scenes especially in old PN Dedeaux novels, so at least I can write them.Celeste -- Lots of changes. In fact when I go back now and re-read an old story I gasp and ask "really? I wrote this crap?"

About Me

I like to think I write the uncommon spanking story. It's less a spanking story and more like a story...with spanking.
In the ebooks to be found here are story collections, novellas, serials and novels that explore adult relationships that involve the sensuality, the psychology, and the sexuality of spanking, hopefully in the context of a good old fashioned yarn.